What does each Canvas log record, and who sees it?
We built this table from Instructure’s guides. It covers every place Canvas records where you went, from a single quiz up to your whole account.
| Log | What it records | Who can open it | Leaving the page? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classic Quiz log | Viewed and answered questions, with timestamps, for the latest attempt and earlier ones | Instructor, if the course turned on Quiz Log Auditing | Yes: “Stopped viewing” and “Resumed” |
| New Quizzes attempt log | Start and finish time, each event with time elapsed, some details about your computer | Instructor; client IP only with a permission | Yes: “stopping and resuming the quiz” |
| New Quizzes multi-session details | Client IP, browser session ID, browser and operating system when one attempt is open in more than one browser or device | Admins only, when Detect Multiple Sessions is on | No, it flags a second session |
| Course access report | Each course item you viewed, how many times, participations, last view | Instructor, by course permission | No |
| Account page views | Each Canvas URL, date, participation, interaction time, browser agent, for the last 365 days | Admins with the page-views permission | No |
| Your Recent History | Your own Canvas course page views from the last 30 days | You | No |
| Other tabs and sites | Not described in any Instructure guide we read | — | — |
What does a Classic Quiz log show when you switch tabs?
Instructure lists four statuses in the action log, each with a timestamp:
- Viewed (and possibly read) a question “displays when a student is active on the quiz page, but has not answered the question.”
- Answered a question displays when you answer. Seeing it several times means you “either changed their answer(s), or the answer was generated by the quiz autosave feature.”
- Stopped viewing the Canvas quiz-taking page “displays when a student navigates away from the quiz (closes the browser tab, opens a new browser tab, or navigates to a different program).”
- Resumed “displays when the student has returned to the quiz.”
The log names the event and the time. The statuses Instructure lists do not include the address of the tab or program you switched to. Instructors open it from the quiz’s Options menu, then Show Student Quiz Results, the student’s name and View Log. Two limits from the same guide: “Quiz Log Auditing is currently a course opt-in feature,” and “Quiz logs are only retained for six months.”
What do New Quizzes record?
Each attempt has a View Log link on the Moderate page. Instructure says it shows “the time and date a student began the quiz and completed the quiz,” each event “that occurred while the student was taking the quiz,” and the time elapsed during each one. Expanding an event may show “details about the student’s computer or an answer they selected,” and “The log also includes moments of stopping and resuming the quiz.”
Two notes in that guide limit who sees what. “Only admins and instructors with the View the Client IP address permission can view the Client IP address,” and multi-session activity “is not visible to instructors.”
Can Canvas tell if a quiz is open on two devices?
In New Quizzes, if the instructor turns on the Detect Multiple Sessions setting. Instructure’s admin guide says that if a student “is using multiple browsers or devices, the In Progress link and warning icon displays,” and the event details show “the Client IP address, Browser session ID, Browser, and Operating System.” The same guide says “The multi session details can only be viewed by admins.”
Does Canvas track tabs outside a quiz?
Outside quizzes, the records are about Canvas pages, not your browser. The course access report lists “The content the user has viewed,” how many times and when last. Admins can see account page views, which show “The URL the student viewed,” the date, whether you participated, your browser agent, and an interaction time that Canvas records “at a minimum of 10 seconds or a maximum of 5 minutes” per page. Every row in those reports is a Canvas page. Our guide to what teachers can see on Canvas covers the course-level records in detail.
How reliable are these logs, by Instructure’s account?
Instructure puts warnings on every one of these pages:
- Quiz logs “are not intended to validate academic integrity or identify cheating for a quiz.” Instructure recommends instructors work with their school’s academic-misconduct office first.
- For Fill-in-Multiple-Blanks, Matching, Multiple Answers and Multiple Dropdown questions, autosave entries “may not reflect the actual sequence of student responses.”
- Page views are “a best-effort attempt and is not guaranteed to be complete or entirely accurate,” and the guide says “Do not use page view data to assess academic integrity.”
If a log entry is being used in a question about your work, those are the official lines to point to.
What about Respondus LockDown Browser?
LockDown Browser is a separate program from Respondus that some instructors require for a quiz, and its rules come from Respondus, not Canvas. Our LockDown Browser guide for Canvas covers installing it and fixing common errors.
Can you see your own Canvas history?
Yes, for page views. Click History in Global Navigation. Instructure says Recent History shows “your page view activity from the last 30 days” and that it is “the same as what’s found in a user’s page views or the user access report.”
Questions people ask
Can Canvas see if you switch tabs during a quiz?
In Classic Quizzes, the quiz log shows Stopped viewing the Canvas quiz-taking page when you close the tab, open a new tab or switch to another program, and Resumed when you return. New Quizzes logs moments of stopping and resuming.
Can Canvas see what other tabs you have open?
The statuses Instructure documents record that you left and came back, with times. None of the Instructure guides we read describe Canvas recording the address or content of other tabs.
Does Canvas track tabs outside of quizzes?
Outside quizzes, Canvas records the Canvas pages you open: the course access report and admin page views list Canvas URLs, views and times.
Can teachers see the quiz log?
Yes, if the course has Quiz Log Auditing turned on for Classic Quizzes. In New Quizzes, instructors open View Log from the Moderate page.
How long does Canvas keep quiz logs?
Instructure says Classic Quiz logs are only retained for six months.
Is the Canvas quiz log proof of academic misconduct?
Instructure says quiz logs should not be used to validate academic integrity or identify occurrences of cheating, and page view data should not be used to assess academic integrity.
Sources
All fetched and checked November 2, 2026.
- How do I view a quiz log for a student? (Instructure, instructor guide)
- How do I use the Moderate page in New Quizzes? (Instructure, instructor guide)
- How do I view multi-session details in New Quizzes as an admin? (Instructure, admin guide)
- How do I view the course access report for an individual user? (Instructure, instructor guide)
- How do I view the page views for a user in an account? (Instructure, admin guide)
- How do I view my recent page view history in Canvas? (Instructure, student guide)
How this guide was made. Drafted with AI from the official Instructure help docs listed above and checked by Silent Student on November 2, 2026. We quote each guide directly. The table is our summary of those guides by role; the last row says what they leave out.
Related guides: What can teachers see on Canvas? · What happens when a Canvas quiz time limit runs out? · Does Canvas detect AI? · LockDown Browser on Canvas · All guides · Canvas
Written by the company that makes Silent Student. Silent Student is not affiliated with or endorsed by Instructure. Canvas and Instructure are trademarks of Instructure, Inc.